Sam Franklin is the CEO of Greenvelope, an electronic invitation company that supports small businesses by offering an affordable, eco-friendly option for event management and outreach to important growth and marketing tools that are often out of reach for small and growing companies. Franklin’s small company, which he started immediately out of college, has grown to a team of 12 with over 3500 business customers whose purpose is to make event management elegant, effortless and eco-friendly.

Sam Franklin
(Photo courtesy of Sam Franklin)

What are the benefits of using digital invites over traditional paper or email invites?

While traditional invitations may still have their place, there are undeniable benefits to going digital for invitations, especially for small businesses.

More affordable – They allow small businesses to invest those savings into other priorities.

Environmentally-friendly – This aspect is especially important for sustainable or green businesses, but is an important consideration for any business concerned with corporate social responsibility.

Timesaving – Since everything can be done online, there’s no need to spend hours printing labels, stamping envelopes, going to the post office.

Guest management – Allowing guests to quickly RSVP with the click of a button is not only a huge benefit to guests, but to hosts as well. All RSVP information is quickly stored and reported easily within the event.

Extra features such as calendar and Google map integration, direct website links, survey questions, registration and ticketing, item sales, donation collection, social sharing, photo galleries and more offer massive value to small businesses.

Why would a small business utilize digital invites?

Our small business clients utilize us for so many reasons, from standard events to promotional announcements. Here are a few popular examples:

In-store events

Holiday cards/announcements

Holiday party invitations

Internal events, such as meetings or happy hours

Thank you notes to important clients or vendors

Seasonal promotions and announcements

Moving announcements, especially useful because recipients can instantly update the address on their device

What is the process a company needs to complete to have a digital invitation created?

Our software makes the process easy for companies to create their own digital invitations and mailings. It is a four-step process once they create an account.

Design – In this step, companies can customize one of our designer templates, upload their own design or pay one of our on-staff designers to create them something completely custom.

Details – Here a company will add all the fine details such as date, time, attire, host name and any personal touches such as a photo gallery or website integration that will be displayed on the ‘Details’ page. They can also set up ticketing, registration, survey questions and any additional RSVP information in this section.

Preview – Companies can preview the recipient experience here to ensure they like the way everything looks.

Send – Now all that is left to do is upload contacts to send the mailing to. Companies can upload from an Excel spreadsheet, LinkedIn, their webmail client or enter contacts manually.